Two McKelvey Engineering Students Awarded AAHHE Graduate Fellowships
Program prepares Latina/o/x doctoral scholars for successful careers
Two doctoral students in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University have been awarded American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) Graduate Student Fellowships for the 2024-2025 academic year. The AAHHE Graduate Student Fellowship Program (GSFP) prepares Latina/o/x doctoral scholars for careers in academia and postsecondary education administration and policy.
Gerson Moreno Romero is from El Salvador and earned a bachelor’s in biomedical engineering from Florida International University in 2020. Romero began pursuing a doctorate in biomedical engineering in 2022 and joined the lab of Jacob McPherson, assistant professor of physical therapy and of anesthesiology at the School of Medicine and affiliate faculty of biomedical engineering. In the lab, he works to characterize in vivo spinal stimulation for the dorsal region to better understand and develop multi-modal neurorehabilitation techniques. He is also involved with TheDream.US Scholarship network, where he has been able to provide support and resources to the undocumented community.
Allison Martinez Mejia lived in Honduras before attending Florida International University, where she earned a bachelor’s in biomedical engineering in 2021. As a doctoral candidate co-advised by Song Hu, professor of biomedical engineering, and Jin-Moo Lee, MD, the Andrew B. & Gretchen P. Jones Professor in Neurology and chair of the Department of Neurology at the School of Medicine, she is using combined two-photon and photoacoustic microscopy to study brain energetics and the implications of impaired neurovascular coupling. She is also active in the scientific outreach community and was awarded the BME Outreach Award, which is given to a doctoral student who has demonstrated a commitment to fostering science and engineering beyond the departmental, school or university borders. Mejia is a McDonnell International Global Scholar and a Frank & Grace Yin Scholar.
